WASHINGTON, April 7, 2011--The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is seeking participation in a two-year, voluntary project to assess the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process used to inform its decisions associated with the regulation of genetically engineered organisms.

The goal of APHIS’ NEPA pilot project is to test new approaches to developing environmental documents to determine the extent to which these approaches improve the quality, timeliness and cost of the process. The project is part of a larger effort to improve the petition evaluation process. It is one of the strategies identified in USDA’s High Priority Performance Goal for biotechnology regulation.

“NEPA compliance is an important Agency responsibility, and the pilot project is designed and intended to assist APHIS in developing more effective methods for the NEPA process,” said Michael Gregoire, deputy administrator for APHIS' biotechnology regulatory services.

The pilot will explore ways to enhance APHIS’ NEPA compliance by evaluating the feasibility of using environmental documents prepared outside of APHIS to help meet NEPA requirements. The pilot will focus on petitions for non-regulated status and will not focus on permits or notifications.

Notice of this action is published in today’s April 7 Federal Register.

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